Man charged in Washington state with starting largest wildfire in the area

Authorities on Monday charged a man in Washington state with starting a wildfire that has consumed almost 4,000 acres and forced tens of thousands from their homes.

Aaron F Farinacci, 37, of Spokane, was arrested and charged with first-degree arson for setting the Old Trails fire, the largest of three devastating wildfires burning through the region.

He was found in possession of waterproof matches and a butane lighter – and was identified by witnesses who spotted him kneeling in grass close to where the blaze began over the weekend.

At a press conference on Monday night, John Nowels, the Spokane county sheriff, gave details of the suspect, including that he had a prior conviction in Arizona for manslaughter. According to the Phoenix New Times, the victim was Farinacci’s father, who was shot and killed at their Mesa home in 2010, reportedly after telling his son to do the dishes.

“As it happens in so many critical cases, it was citizens who were paying attention to their surroundings, being aware and willing to step up and say something that led to the relatively quick apprehension of Mr Farinacci,” Nowels said.

“This was fantastic, very quick work by everybody involved.”

Farinacci was expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday, Nowels said, as crews continued to battle the fires that have expanded across the county in recent days.

The Old Trails fire started Saturday north-west of downtown Spokane. The blaze jumped the Spokane river and ripped through neighborhoods that some residents were able to return to on Monday.

“There’s nothing to save,” said Miriam Sim, 76, as she and her husband, Daniel Sim, surveyed the ruined home where they had lived since 2005.

In one Spokane neighborhood, blackened vehicles, a boat twisted by the heat and melted plastic recycling bins remained. Across the street, lawns were still green and houses were spared, as residents continued to run hoses or sprinklers to water their properties.

More than 67,000 people were told to evacuate the three fires – Old Trail, Autumn Lane and Fairview – that by early Tuesday had burned about 16 sq miles (41 sq km) of Spokane, although orders in some areas were downgraded late on Monday.

Elsewhere across the state, where extreme high temperatures and a fourth year of drought conditions have taken hold, there were at least 15 wildfires burning, covering at least 390 sq miles.

Washington state’s entire congressional delegation wrote to Donald Trump on Monday urging the president to approve an expedited emergency declaration. Bob Ferguson, the state’s Democratic governor, said he spoke to the White House over the weekend after making his own emergency declaration.

“Hundreds of people have completely lost their homes and farms, and many are prohibited from returning to their homes or neighborhoods as crews continue to extinguish smoldering embers,” the politicians’ letter said.

No deaths or major injuries have been reported, although Cpl Mark Gregory, a spokesperson for the Spokane sheriff’s office, said Monday that 14 remained unaccounted for. They were, he said, probably people who had not been in contact since evacuating and were not truly missing or in danger.

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More than 1,000 firefighters, many from out of state, arrived by Monday to help tackle the blazes, a number expected to double in the coming days, authorities said. Crews continued to fight the fires by land and air, with Nowels warning the public during the Monday press conference not to interfere with aerial operations by using drones.

A bulletin issued by the National Weather Service (NWS)’s Spokane office on Tuesday morning warned that challenging conditions would persist through the remainder of the week.

“Extensive amounts of smoke will continue over the region, maintaining unhealthy air quality,” it said.

“Dry conditions and breezy winds increase Friday and Saturday across portions of central Washington, bringing elevated fire weather conditions.”

Hundreds of homes, businesses, and other structures have been destroyed in what Dave Upthegrove, Washington’s commissioner of public lands, called “an extraordinary wildfire season across the Pacific northwest”.

The Associated Press contributed to this report